As recent airline bankruptcies go, the collapse of FlyBMI on Saturday evening is by no means the largest but it has still sent shockwaves through the aviation industry. The regional British airline operated just 16 Embraer twin-engine jets and employed a modest workforce of 376 employees in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. FlyBMI’s demise follows hot on the heels of German leisure carrier, Germania which fell into administration just over a week ago.
In a statement released on the airline’s website, FlyBMI blamed uncertainty caused by Brexit as well as increasing fuel costs for its collapse. “It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today,” a spokesperson for the bankrupt airline explained.
“The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs… These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit. Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around bmi’s ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.”
Despite investments of over £40 million over the last six years, FlyBMI said its problems had become “insurmountable”. The airline has stopped trading with immediate effect and all flights have now been grounded. FlyBMI advised customers not to travel to the airport and instead contact their bank, credit card provider or travel insurance company for financial assistance.
Staff at the airline have been informed that they are no longer employed and may face delays in being paid (if at all). But just like after the collapse of Germania, the chief operations officer of Ryanair has taken to Twitter to offer recruitment opportunities for both pilots and engineers.
Peter Bellew said Ryanair would be sending recruitment staff to FlyBMI’s home base at East Midlands airport on Monday morning to help affected staff, with early start dates available for engineers, pilots and unspecified specialist staff. Ryanair will also be accepting application and enquiries via recruitment@ryanair.com and a full list of current opportunities can be found on the official Ryanair careers website.
Ryanair is accepting applications from flybmi staff tonight on recruitment@ryanair.com. Video gives some more details. Early start dates for engineering, pilots and specialist roles. We have will have recruitment staff at East Midlands airport on Monday. pic.twitter.com/4XsLXgNGnA
— Peter Bellew (@peterbellew) February 16, 2019
Fellow British regional airline, FlyBe was forced to issue a statement to clarify that it was not affiliated with FlyBMI and had not fallen into administration. FlyBe is itself currently subject of a £100 million resuce bid by a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic.
A slew of European airlines have failed over the last 12-months including Primera, Small Planet and Cobalt. Intense competition, as well as overcapacity and higher oil prices have pushed a number of smaller airlines to the brink and many analysts expect there will be further bankruptcies over the course of 2019.
